From the moment Owen Coyle marched out of the tunnel at the head of his backroom staff, all of whom had defected from Burnley to Bolton Wanderers with him, the cries of "Judas" poured down from the stands.

Before this tie Coyle had talked animatedly of the floodlit nights he had overseen at Turf Moor, including the defeat of Manchester United and coming back from a 4-1 deficit against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup semi-final. This, in a way, was the equal of any of them. The irony was Burnley played the way Coyle had taught them, beautifully and to feet, and his pre-match prediction that he expected to be playing them in the Premier League next season does not appear to be what Bob Paisley called "managerial toffee".

Turf Moor had faced its past and come through comfortably. Had Jay Rodríguez judged his shot better when slipped through artfully by Chris Eagles, the night's outstanding figure, the final 10 minutes would have been drained of nerves. Whatever the scoreline, and it might easily have been more than 1-0, this was a night that proved that although Bolton may have provided Coyle with greater financial resources, Burnley would always have the edge in terms of passion, however dark. When the final whistle sounded, the ground stood and began chanting the name of Coyle's successor, Brian Laws.

"This was not Burnley versus Owen Coyle, it was 11 versus 11," Laws said later. "It is nice to have put this whole issue to bed because it has been hanging round the club for a long time. Hopefully the supporters have got it off their chest and can move on."

Coyle said that once the tie had begun he was not aware of the abuse from the stands or the stewards around him, although he did note that when Wade Elliott settled the contest by volleying home Eagles' cross the ball had been teed up via Chris Iwelumo's hand "like a volleyball". Adam Bogdan may have battered the shot away but it had clearly crossed the line.

Burnley had tried their best to calm matters before kick-off. The chief executive, Paul Fletcher, wrote under the headline "Time is a Great Healer" although time creeps at a glacial pace for managers who switch sides. Fletcher condensed the argument against his former manager in a single sentence. "We were very close to staying up last season and, if we hadn't had that major disruption in the middle of the season, we may have got the extra five or so points necessary."

The chorus from the Bolton fans of "We are Premier League" would have stung. Burnley, however, were superior and in the opening exchanges Eagles crashed a shot against the crossbar. Burnley were to strike the frame of the goal again before the interval when Rodríguez, whom Coyle had plucked from the youth ranks and sent to Stirling Albion to toughen up, drove against the post from 20 yards.

Harry Redknapp, whose move from Portsmouth to Southampton and then back again had given him first-hand knowledge of how supporters can turn, had wondered aloud why clubs like Bolton, who are not involved in Europe, take the Carling Cup so lightly.

Perhaps with Sunday's encounter with Manchester United in mind Bolton made seven changes from the side that forced a draw at Aston Villa but only once, when Tamir Cohen screwed his shot wide when clean through,, did it seem they would level matters.

Robbie Blake, who had followed Coyle to Bolton, was howled down when he went to take a corner. In similar circumstances supporters had hurled a pig's head at the boots of Luís Figo on his return to Barcelona's Camp Nou with Real Madrid. There was no danger of that here. Pig's head and trotters is a Lancashire delicacy, far too valuable to be tossed away at the feet of a footballer.